Due to budget cuts, the city is planning to reduce its Runaway and Homeless Youth expenditures by almost a million dollars this year. Street Outreach Services will be reduced by half and completely eliminated next year. Among the agencies affected is the Ali Forney Center, one of Hollaback!’s partners in New Yorkers for Safe Transit.

Balancing the budget on the backs of NYC’s most vulnerable youth is unacceptable. Citywide, 3,800 teens are homeless; among those 3,800 forty percent are LGBTQ youths. Forty percent! If we want to walk the walk of Dan Savage’s “It gets better” campaign, we have to provide the resources to make “better” possible.

It’s time to take action. On Monday, December 6 at 2pm the City Council is holding hearings on the proposed budget cuts at City Hall. This is an opportunity to have our voices heard, to voice opinions and concerns about the budget cuts. For more information, or if you have any questions, please call LGBT Liaison, Erik Bottcher, at 212 788 5646.

Policy reform is a way in which rape culture is confronted, whether from within the federal government or on campus. Students Active For Ending Rape (SAFER) is asking students around the U.S. to step up to the challenge by submitting your school to their database for a review of its current campus sexual assault policies. If your school does not currently maintain one such policy, SAFER wants to help you create one. If it does maintain a policy, you may be surprised to read what’s included…

I had the opportunity to speak with these amazing high school students from Elizabeth Irwin high school about a month ago. And they were incredible. Grace, the student at the end, even testified at the city council hearing on street harassment with me in October. She is so bold.

As Ileana says at the end. “You think feminism is dead? Look at these six.” Feminism is far from dead, but if these young folks continue to have their way, street harassment’s days are numbered.

Satire can be a powerful artistic form used to change bad human behavior.

It uses irony, wit, and ridicule to attack human vice, folly, and foolishness.

“As such, it is a tool that can be used to defeat street harassment,” writes blogger and self-defense guru Erik Kondo.

“Satire can be used to deny and refute the power of street harassers and expose their weaknesses and flaws. I came up with the term ‘sexless toad’ because as a man, I believe it is an insult that takes away power and is emasculating. The point is to come up with words that take away power. The insult ‘asshole’ actually gives power.”

I apologize for using this submit feature for something other than reporting an incident, but I’m wondering if it’s time to up the ante in fighting harassment.

Following the story of the awesome woman on the subway who confronted her assaulter, I have read story after story of women who were harassed and assaulted and turned to the police or transit workers who made it very clear that they were not going to do anything. This is utter bullshit. These people are getting paid to serve and protect and yet so often they treat these stories with indifference.

I’d like to suggest that we don’t just shame the perpetrators of assault and harassment, but also those who choose to aid and abet them by doing nothing. Next time a cop refuses to do anything? Take his/her name, rank and badge number (you should always do this anyway) and post it up. Let the world know who the cops are who don’t give a damn what happens to the people they are supposed to protect. Same goes for transit workers, security officers, etc.

If they can’t be bothered to do anything because they care or because it’s their job, maybe a little shame and public pressure will get them off their asses.

Mario Valdiviant, the man literally caught with his pants down (with a condom on, to boot?), will serve time in jail. Hey look! That whole “can’t masturbate or show your ding dong in public” law thing is being enforced! Way to go, New York City! A long overdue HIP HIP HOORAY!

Check out the warning Hollaback gives to other would-be flashers on tonight’s ABC Eyewitness News. And then find us on Facebook and share your thoughts on the city’s response to this incident.

(UPDATE: We used to have a picture here of our very favorite privileged white dude, but then we got told we were violating copyright. Who knew memes had copyright? Anyway, it said “Men shout sexual things to you as you walk down the street? I’d love it if women did that to me!”)

If you missed the privileged-denying-dude meme all over the interwebs, check out KnowYourMeme for a recount of his many insights. We’re happy to hear that he’s weighed in on street harassment. It’s a conversation we over here at Hollaback! have come to term, “What about the menz?!?”

Lucky for us, privilege-denying-dude is often drowned out by rockstar-dude that makes us swoon. We’ve been inundated with support from men who are as fed up with street harassment as we are. We were co-founded by men, our board is 1/3 men, 50% of our donors are men, and just last week an historically black fraternity reached us to us to do an event.

So thanks dudes, for rocking it hard. And if you get a chance, do us all a favor and reach out to your privilege-denying-friends and give them a crash course on being as awesome as you. Us ladies have been working on them for decades, and we could use a little help.

*Thanks for the head’s up on this from @randomdeanna and our friends at Colorlines.

In a follow up to her “New Phone Apps Aim to Combat Harassment” article published in the NYT on Monday, reporter and now HollaHERO Karen Zraick publishes her own personal hollaback in today’s City Room blog.

As if we couldn’t have guessed, within hours, there are 47 comments all containing one, two, three, and sometimes more, horrifying stories of women’s own personal experiences with street harassment. And it isn’t over yet. NOW THAT IS ONE HELLUVA HOLLABACK!

“It’s infuriating to see this described as a ‘quality of life issue’, writes one woman. “This isn’t a ‘quality of life’ issue, okay? It’s not my neighbors having a loud party, or a dog barking next door!”

If I had a dollar for every NYT reporter who has come forward with her own hollaback…well, I wouldn’t have very much money. But if I had $5 from every woman who read this story, including you, now I might have something to talk about…raise us $5?